At a recent human reproduction and embryology conference in Europe (http://www.eshre.com), some interesting findings on Male Factor Infertility were uncovered.
One of the studies titled “Keep the River Flowing” was an exploratory study investigating the effect of daily ejaculation for 7 days and sperm DNA damage. Anyway, the study uncovered that 3 days of abstinence followed by 7 days consecutive days of ejaculation, resulted in reduced sperm DNA fragmentation (down from 33% to 21.8%), increased motility and improved morphology.
It was concluded that sex / ejaculation for 7 days leading up to and including ovulation during a normal female reproductive cycle may then increase chances of conception. The implication being that if the same thing was applied leading up to a sperm collection for IVF/IUI/ICSI then the chances of conception may also be improved. There is the usual caveat that more studies are needed to look at this further but I don’t need any convincing. We’ve tried many things – might as well give this a go and keep the river flowing as well. My poor husband is going to be exhausted (he works full time and studies part-time)!
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